Transpire

//tɹænˈspaɪ̯ɚ// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To give off (vapour, waste matter etc.); to exhale (an odour etc.). ambitransitive
  2. 2
    give off (water) through the skin wordnet
  3. 3
    To perspire. intransitive, obsolete
  4. 4
    come about, happen, or occur wordnet
  5. 5
    Of plants, to give off water and waste products through the stomata. intransitive
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    come to light; become known wordnet
  2. 7
    To become known; to escape from secrecy. intransitive

    "It eventually transpired that the murder victim had been a notorious blackmailer."

  3. 8
    exude water vapor wordnet
  4. 9
    To happen, take place. broadly, intransitive

    "Although I was prevented from attending the 1952 annual conference, I was immediately informed as to what had transpired."

  5. 10
    pass through the tissue or substance or its pores or interstices, as of gas wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
come aboutappeararisebe foundbe met withbe realized

Example

More examples

"Do you think a fight will transpire after school today?"

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French transpirer, from Medieval Latin transpirare (“to breathe through”), from Latin trans (“across”) spirare (“to breathe”). The sense “to become known” is also present in French, while the sense “to happen” is not; the latter probably developed in English from the former.

Related phrases

give offtake place

More for "transpire"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.